


Mistletoe

by cheesecake_chelsea



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Klance, Christmas Special, Christmas Voltron, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Homesick Lance (Voltron), Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Langst, Light Angst, Long Shot, M/M, One Shot, Pining Lance (Voltron), klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-16 14:19:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13055733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheesecake_chelsea/pseuds/cheesecake_chelsea
Summary: Lance McClain loved Christmas more than anyone. The decorations of brightly coloured lights were strung around the room. Lance laughed as he felt one of his many siblings placed silver tinsel on top of his head, the scratchy material irritating his darkened skin. The scent of cinnamon and ginger floated throughout the room, reminding Lance's loud family of the baking that was currently in the oven. The warm heat from the crackling logs had the large family curling around it. Each one of the smaller children had grabbed multiple coloured fluffy blankets, enjoying the warmth they provided. Laughter overpowered the quiet movie displayed on the screen. Lance felt safe for the first time in a while.That's when Lance knew, this was a dream.A long (by my standards at least) Christmas one-shot about an insecure and home-sick Lance who's pining hard for Keith. Takes place AFTER/DURING season 4.





	Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, this has taken me a longggggg time to write. I want to thank you all for reading and (hopefully) enjoying this very lengthy one-shot. Disclaimer: I have only been in very light snow once a while ago, I live at the top of NZ where we don't get snow. Sorry if it's not accurate or anything.
> 
> I want to bring attention a mistake I have made while writing this one-shot. Throughout the shot, Lance is referred to being the "Blue Paladin" yet, the shot takes place after/during season 4 where (spoilers) Lance is actually the Red Paladin. I apologize for this mistake. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New-Year!

Lance McClain loved Christmas more than anyone. The decorations of brightly coloured lights were strung around the room. Lance laughed as he felt one of his many siblings placed silver tinsel on top of his head, the scratchy material irritating his darkened skin. The scent of cinnamon and ginger floated throughout the room, reminding Lance's loud family of the baking that was currently in the oven. The warm heat from the crackling logs had the large family curling around it. Each one of the smaller children had grabbed multiple coloured fluffy blankets, enjoying the warmth they provided. Laughter overpowered the quiet movie displayed on the screen. Lance felt safe for the first time in a while. 

That's when Lance knew, this was a dream. 

Sleep dragged at his blue eyes as he reached over to slam his hand upon the loud buzzing that rudely awoke him. Lance's hand reached out for the alarm that was usually on his side table, only to find air. Annoyed at the constant buzzing, Lance threw his flat pillow towards the cold metal floor of the Altean ship. The buzzing finally stopped. Frustrated, Lance wanted to set fire to his room and let himself burn. He wanted to make everything suffer in the same way he did, to let them know the angsty feeling of his heart, aching in his chest. 

Lance never woke up so filled with rage and violence. 

The next thing he knew, Lance was on the icy metal. He clutched the deflated pillow tightly in his arms, desperate for some kind of comfort. The Latino stuffed his face into the pillow, wanting to destroy all evidence of his home-sickness. Reluctant tears fell from his ocean blue eyes as sobs shook his lanky frame. Lance missed his family, he missed their full-of-life nature. He missed the feeling of support and love from them. All Lance wanted, was to spend Christmas with his family one last time.

After having his tantrum, Lance decided to at least show his face to his team members. Gently washing away his tears with his shaky hands, Lance threw his white pillow back towards his uncomfortable bed. Lance felt the need to leave his room, it felt as though he had witnessed something he wasn't meant to. Lance rushed out the large door, grabbing his usual jacket and throwing the white hood over his messy mop called hair. 

Lance didn't bother looking at his appearance in the mirror, already knowing that his eyes will be puffy and red with dark circles underneath. He probably looked as though someone had woke him up in the middle of the night and smashed his face in with a spade. 

Trudging through the bright hallway, Lance had his orbs glued to his off-white socks that had faded throughout the years. Lance wanted to laugh pitifully at his current mindset. It had gotten to the point where his socks would remind him of his family. Every little detail he could think of somehow reminded him of his past. 

The Blue Paladin shoved his hands into his pockets, wanting to break away from his thoughts. 

"Lance, you okay?" A small voice asked him tenderly. Lance jumped a mile high, not expecting to run into anyone so soon. He directed his attention to the small female while clutching his heart in fright. 

The short paladin started laughing at the Latino's overdramatic reaction. Lance rolled his eyes and returned to his original state, adjusting his white hood over his head once more. 

"But seriously, you look like you've been hit by a bus." Pidge raised an eyebrow in questioning. Lance wasn't in the mood to spill all of his feelings and cry on someone's shoulder. It felt useless to do such a thing now. Lance just felt numb and wanted to crawl back into his bed and sleep forever. 

He let out a little "hmm" before carrying on walking, clearly not in the mood. Lance left behind the Green Paladin in the metaphorical dust, not looking back. 

All Lance wanted in this moment, was some goddamn coffee. The bitterness of coffee always helped Lance wake up after a bad night's sleep. Coffee always seems to fit Lance back into his usual ecstatic state. Too bad Alteans hadn't created coffee 10,000 years ago. The best Lance could do was make a milkshake, however, he wasn't in the mood to do anything that involved effort. 

Before Lance could reach the kitchen where his best friend was most likely hiding, the most annoying alarm called out for all the paladins. It irritated Lance more than usual. There was nothing wrong with the sound, it just seemed to rub Lance the wrong way. He was already annoyed enough, he didn't think another team meeting was going to help.

 Despite the fuss of everyone rushing towards the main centre, Lance took his time walking down the long corridors. Lance didn't care about being late, he was too tired to even think about sprinting towards the control room. The alarm that was currently blasting was only for important meetings and not for any Galra attacks. Lance did thank whatever God was out there that he didn't have to smash a bunch of purple aliens. The Latino just wanted the day to be over before it could properly begin. 

The large doors to the main centre opened for Lance. The upset boy was greeted with different looks of usual disappointment. Lance couldn't care less about getting another lecture from either Shiro or Allura, he was too numb to even concentrate. Speaking of Allura, she was standing in front of the other Paladins, ready to begin her speech or whatever. 

"Thank you, Lance, for finally joining us," Allura looked towards the tired Latino. The Blue Paladin could feel the curious stares bore into his flesh. Not bothering to reply to Allura's sarcasm, Lance continued to stare at the silver ground. 

"Now that we have everyone here, we can finally get on with the surprise," Allura's eyes seemed to shine, as if concealing a great secret she was excited to share. "On Altea, we celebrate the birth of our planet by the celebration called, Deziuim. Coran and I found that Deziuim lands on the same day as your Earth Chris...t-mas?" Allura attempted to say. 

"You mean Christmas?" Pidge pipes up.

This caught Lance's attention, making his whip his head up within lightning speeds. His attention turned directly towards the small Paladin. The words left a pitiful stab into his heart. The warm memories of his family by the crackling fire flooded back. Lance felt his gut twist painfully at the thought. He was so dramatically homesick that it was now taking physical effects on him. 

"Lance, dude, you okay? Your face looks a bit pale," The sweet Yellow Paladin asked with a concerned tone. 

Lance nodded and let out a small "Yup."

"Well, if you say so..." Hunk continued to search Lance's face for some kind of crack within his metaphorical brick wall. Finding nothing, Hunk sighed, not wanting to see his best friend so upset.

"Hey, I'll make some cookies or something to make you feel better," Hunk smiled warmly at Lance. The Blue Paladin returned the gesture.

"Yeah, that'll be great. Thanks, big guy." Lance slowly felt himself return to normal. 

The two returned their attention towards the Princess. Allura seemed to blab on about Deziuim and the meaning behind it. Lance and all the other paladins were becoming bored and wanted nothing but the meeting to be over already. They hated listening to the Princess drone on and on about a useless holiday, though, none of them was rude enough to interrupt her. Lance started plotting of ways he could get out of the celebration, he didn't want to break down and cry in front of everyone. 

"I say, we head over to the Space Mall!" The orange haired man interrupted the Princess' droning. 

A chorus of cheers exploded within the room. Everyone was excited to go back to the Space Mall and mess around again. Last time, Pidge stole money, Hunk became a slave, Keith almost got arrested and Lance got a cow. It was all-around, a great experience for everyone. Lance was excited to go back there, even if he didn't really show it on the outside. He was excited about new video games to play and new stuff he could get. A small smile appeared on Lance's face, showing the large excitement contained within him. 

"Coran, I haven't-" The Princess started to speak.

"To the Mall!" Coran shouted while pointing in a random direction. Another round of cheers filled the room once more. Lance decided to join in for once. He couldn't contain the grin from spreading across his face. All thoughts and warm feelings on Christmas had disappeared, replaced with the fast and exciting idea of exploring the Space Mall once more. 

~ ~ ~ 

The Paladins of Voltron had been wandering the store for around one varga. Bordem loomed over them like a rain cloud. When there was something exciting to do, Coran would quickly shut them down and started lecturing them. Shiro would always side with Coran and tell the other three paladins to stop acting like children, which led them to pout and mope. 

Lance was almost feeling like his old self again. He wasn' as nearly as energetic as he usually is, due to the bad night's sleep, besides that, Lance felt a lot better than he did this morning. He was now fully dressed and no longer had a messy floof of hair. Lance tried his best to use his beauty products to cover up any redness on his face. It was the best he could do. 

Besides his bad start, Lance was starting to enjoy himself. He often found himself drifting away from the group more than usual. During this time, Hunk or another Paladin had to pull Lance away from a certain object that would catch his interest. After staring at a sphere that had rainbow colours twisted and twirled like an oil slick, Lance was once again, wandering off from the group. The other Paladins were far off by now, not noticing Lance's disappearance. 

A pair of large clicking dice were displayed within the dirty window of a secret store. The dice were a rustic gold colour, fitting well with the steampunk look of clogs clattering together. The strange object looked as though it came out of a movie set, not looking quite authentic. Lance thought the dice were huge, they were a similar size of an oven. He wasn't sure what called Lance to it in the first place, but now he couldn't stop staring at the hypnotising turns of the dice. It was such a simple object, but it was portrayed in such a fascinating way. The Latino found himself walking into the store, completely absorbed within the rustic atmosphere.

Upon entering, a chilling blast of air coated Lance's frame. A soft continuous tick came from far within the store. The noise was accompanied by the clicking of clogs rotating from all across the store. The dark Victorian wooden arch that resided in the middle of the store gave Lance a flash-back to the past. This store felt like it belonged in an Earth museum. There were dark wooden shelves stacked high up to the ceiling. Every inch of space on tables, chairs, desks and shelves were completely hidden among the piles of space junk. 

A shiver rushed through Lance's lanky frame. The store was empty, leaving Lance to roam around freely, which was never a good idea. 

"Uh...Hello? Am I the only one here?" Lance called out awkwardly, feeling uncomfortable within the atmosphere of the store. There was no reply. 

After having a staring competition with a retired teddy bear, the brunette came to a holt. The very thing Lance had been trying to avoid, was staring him right in the face. Five Santa hats were stacked on top of each other, two others were presented on mannequin heads. They were on a table which screamed "Christmas". Tree decorations circled around the hats, drawing the main attention to them. Candy canes leaned against the mannequin heads along with an obviously plastic gingerbread man. A bundle of fake mistletoe rested lightly on the Santa hat. 

Lance felt his heart swell, memories of his family laughing and joking by the fireplace flooded his mind. He found it hard to swallow his emotions. Christmas was happening no matter what Lance wanted. As much as he wanted to see his family wear those hats, Lance knew deep down that he will never get that opportunity. He knows he'll never see his family ever again, at all. The Paladin knew that he would most likely die doing something stupid on a mission. He was a stupid person and didn't even deserve to get his family back. 

That's when Lance caved. 

The brunette grabbed the bright red hats with lightning fast speeds, not caring he grabbed one extra than needed. He stormed over to the counter, determined to buy the stupid things before he changed his mind. Being impulsive was Keith's thing, but Lance didn't care at this moment. The Blue Paladin was supposed to be the chill one, the one who always took their time and thought about everything. Not all labels fit a person.

 Lance called out once more, annoyed that no one resided in the shop. After waiting for a short couple of minutes, Lance shoved the hats into a nearby bag and simply decided to leave the shop, it wasn't as if he had money anyway. 

The boy mentally waved goodbye to the victorian-esk shop as he rushed to find his missing friends. Panic started to settle in once Lance realized the team had left. They wouldn't leave him behind...would they? Different horrible scenarios rushed through Lance's head, leaving the conclusion of him being abandoned. No matter how much he tried to think positive about the situation, Lance kept panicking. 

To take his mind off his intruding thoughts, Lance decided to do what he does best.

An alien female resided against a far wall. She was slouched slightly with her arms crossed, obviously in a terrible mood. She was good looking by Lance's standards. Her short blonde hair stood out against her bluish-green skin. Strands of her hair were pulled around her head like a headband, showing off her pointy ears and tattoo. The tattoo started from her hairline to her glabella. It seemed to be a line of symbols, first a teardrop, then a diamond and lastly, two dots. Parts of her blond fringe fell on top of her yellowish eyes, enhancing her dominant stance. Her eyes were slightly hidden beneath a pair of small circular glasses. Lance frowned slightly when he saw the large claw marks on the side of her face, wondering what she had witnessed. 

**(Credit to Rinmaru Games)**

Despite all of this, Lance went in for the kill. 

Lance swagged over to the girl, putting on his best "lady killer" attitude. He smoothly brushed away a few of his dark brown locks and showed off his sparkly half grin. Lance slid his left thumb into the front pocket of his dark denim jeans, emphasising his relaxed attitude. Once he reached the alien, she barely spared a look towards him. Lance looked at her with slightly hooded eyes.

"Hey baby, do you work at Starbucks? Because I like you a latte." Lance winked and waved his newly formed finger guns. 

"What the hell is Starbucks? Also, how dare you call me an infant!" The alien stood up straight, towering over Lance. The Latino suddenly felt small and embarrassed. There was no way out of this situation. 

"Uh...W-What I meant was that..." Lance fumbled for the right words to say, not sure how to escape.

Suddenly, a familiar laugh rushed to Lance's ears. The Latino's heart warmed as he realized the boy who was laughing. His eyes widened and his face flushed to the point where he was a tomato. Lance had only heard the beautiful laugh twice, and both times were aimed at him. 

"Lance, did you seriously try to hit on Aliox? I knew you were desperate, but not  _that_ desperate." Keith Kogane smirked at the tomato called Lance. 

"Keith?! What are you doing here? I thought you were working with the blade?" Lance's confusion leaked out before he could even think about it.

"Well, I still am, they allowed a few of us to have a small break," Keith replied quickly. 

"The others are all missing you, we're celebrating Christmas today." Lance looked towards the ground, unable to admit that he missed Keith more than anyone else. 

"I've never actually celebrated Christmas, didn't have the money or family to," Keith shrugged uncaringly. 

Lance's jaw dropped to the ground as he made a loud gasping noise. How had this boy never celebrated Christmas? He made it his mission to force Keith to celebrate with them, even if Lance himself didn't want to. The Latino found himself reaching for the plastic bag filled with red hats. Keith stared at him in curiosity, not sure what Lance was doing. The Blue Paladin swiftly placed a Santa hat on Keith's dark mullet. 

"Lance? What- Is that a Santa hat?" Keith raised an eyebrow curiously. 

"You're definitely spending Christmas with me." Lance quickly grabbed Keith's wrist, running off in an unknown direction, leaving Aliox behind. 

"Lance! What are you doing!" Keith yelled at Lance, confused.

"We're gonna go find the others!" Lance excitedly called back. He felt like a child showing their parents a new pet. 

Lance dragged Keith around for some time. The mall was bigger than they thought, meaning it was going to take a while to find the other Paladins. The pair got many strange looks from passersbys, they didn't care. Every time they saw someone who looked like one of the paladins, one would grab the other and rush towards them. It usually led to a dead end, making them reset their own progress. After an hour of searching, the two decided to stop and wait for the others to find them. 

"This sucks!" Lance loudly complained to Keith. 

Keith didn't offer much of a reply, just a small sigh in agreement. The two were stuck sitting at a small table in the mall. Lance assumed that Keith had made it his life mission to completely cover the small area with his face and arms. The dark haired male looked as though he was about to fall asleep right then are there. His hair was fanned out around him, accentuating  

The two had wandered around the mall for quite some time. The pair walked into many different shops and Lance typically got yelled at for touching something he shouldn't have. Keith and Lance finally decided to stop wandering into shops after an hour. The two were found at a table in the food court. Lance remembered Hunk talking about working at one of those fast food places.  
  
Lance noticed Keith had somehow made it his mission to completely cover the small table with his head, which wasn't very hard. Keith looked as though he was going to fall asleep right then and there. He rested his head on his crossed arms, dark long hair sticking to his cheeks, accentuating his pale skin. The boy's Santa hat slanted, slightly falling off. Keith's violet eyes stared off into the distance, obviously thinking about something. A small frown was present on his features, Lance wanted nothing more but to smooth out his features and replace it with the smiling Keith he knows.   
  
Before Lance knew it, Keith's eyes were locked on him. The pale boy's eyebrow raised in confusion, wondering why Lance was staring at him. The atmosphere became awkward on Lance's side, not knowing what to say or what to do. He cleared his throat and looked away from the adorable boy.  
  
"So, how long do you think it'll take for them to find us?" Lance asked."Who knows? This mall is massive." Keith sits up, now placing his chin in his gloved hands."I didn't realize this place was this big, last time we were here it didn't seem this big." Lance looked towards Keith once more through saying this.  
  
The Latino couldn't help himself. Keith's red hat was falling off his dark hair, about to hit the ground at any moment. So Lance reached forward and fixed the Christmas hat properly.Lance recoiled once realizing what he had done. Keith had a look of bewilderment upon his features, slowly reaching up to touch the red hat. A large wave of emotions enveloped the Latino, making his face flush. Lance couldn't stop the rambling before it left his mouth.

"Um, the hat was falling and I just had to fix it...you know? It was irritating me and I uh-"

"Lance, shut up." Keith rolled his eyes, clearly not caring.  
  
The Blue Paladin's jaw snapped shut immediately, not wanting to embarrass himself more than he already had. There was a silence between the couple, not quite awkward nor comfortable. Lance wanted to start a new conversation so this one could be long forgotten. Before he could even open his mouth, he was interrupted.   
  
"Keith?!" A chorus of yells called out to the ex-paladin.   
  
Turning around, the pair finds the large group they were originally looking for. Lance's heart filled with joy at the site of his friends waving to them. They had finally been found! Lance could finally relax in the comfort of his own friends.   
  
"I'm here too guys!" Lance pouted.  
  
"Why didn't you tell us you were bringing Keith along!" Hunk grinned.  
  
Lance dead-panned. "If I had a way to tell you anything, we would be found an hour ago!" He replied. 

  
"Okay, okay, enough. It's time to leave anyway," Shiro spoke up, showing off his leadership. 

Lance noticed most of the Paladins had bags full of what he assumed to be Christmas decorations. Pidge's bag seemed to be heavy as she looked as though she was struggling to lift it. He also noticed that each of the bags had cute little Christmas themed designs. Pidge's bag 

"Finally!" Pidge and Lance both cheered at the same time. 

After sharing a little laugh, the group gravitated towards the entrance. They were all determined to leave, too exhausted to do anything else. Lance hung back from the group, suddenly feeling shy and distant from everyone. He didn't know why he was suddenly feeling this way. Lance assumed it had something to do with his dream this morning, that seemed to be his excuse for everything. The Blue Paladin noticed that Keith was way ahead of him, talking with none other than Takashi Shirogane who was leading the group out. The Latino also noticed Pidge and Hunk talking together excitedly. Tears welled in Lance's eyes, his throat became tight. They really didn't care about him...did they? They were all too busy invested with each other, none of them really noticing that he was falling behind. 

Shaking his head, Lance cleared those thoughts. It was Christmas, he was going to be happy, even if it meant he had to force himself to be. Putting on a fake smile, Lance shuffled over to his best friends. He pushed himself into the conversation with the two and they didn't mind.  Even if Lance couldn't understand what they were rambling on about sometimes. Half of the time, they were rambling on about technology which Lance never understood. He had never "clicked" with technology. Everything always broke when placed into his tanned hands. 

Even though it was difficult to accept the painful reminders of Christmas, Lance knew there was a slight chance of him getting through this alright, especially within the company of his closest friends. Even if he had to force himself, he was going to make this the best Christmas ever.

~ ~ ~ ~

After roughly an hour, the castle looked as though it was throwing up Christmas and Deziuim decorations. Twinkling bright lights were scattered across every wall, flashing different Christmas colours every so often. Tinsel was scattered around every surface possible. Snowflakes made from paper were hanging from each light. All the couches were decorated with red and green fluffy blankets. Upon closer inspection, Lance could see little patterns of everyone's lions and snowflakes, reminding him of an "ugly" sweater. Fake presents were stacked in the corner of each room, giving off a sparkly and Christmas atmosphere. A large fake Christmas tree stood in the corner of the main room. The plastic look of the tree was blatantly obvious by the shiny texture. The Christmas tree wasn't very tall, it just passes Lance's head, but it was really puffy, leaving more room to decorate. Lance didn't know where the tree came from, but he assumed Pidge's hacking of the 3D printer had something to do with it. 

Everyone was currently decorating the tree with their own paladin colours. Lance was already loading up the tree with as many blue decorations and blue tinsel as possible, making sure he was known. Everyone rolled their eyes at Lance's obnoxiousness. He even placed a blue star on top of the tree, much to everyone's dismay. The rest of the tree was horribly decorated with no colour scheme, making it look like a mess. That didn't matter, they didn't care it looked like shit, they all put the effort into decorating and that's what made it special. 

After decorating the tree and getting a cup of hot chocolate, Pidge suddenly came walzing in from God knows where. Usually, this wouldn't grab the attention of the Latino, but it was the piles of jumpers she had in her arms that threw everyone off. 

"Pidge? What the quiznak are you carrying?" Lance pointed dramatically at the mounds of clothing her hands, nearly spilling his drink in the process. 

Pidge simply said, "Merry Christmas, jerks." Before throwing a different jumper at a different person. 

Lance quickly set down his dark blue mug before shoving on his greyish blue jumper. It was a soft and thick, perfect for winter weather. Lance was surprised the jumper fit him so well. He knew that this was going to be his second favourite jumper to wear. Looking around the room, Lance noticed everyone was snuggled into their own jumpers. He also noticed that Keith's jumper didn't have the cliche Christmas sweater style, but a more modern and fitting jumper. The Blue Paladin would never admit it to Keith's face, but he loved seeing him in his classic red colour. The fiery colour brought out Keith's passion and accentuated his pale skin and dark hair. It suited him well. 

"Pidgeon!" Lance yelled excitedly before rushing towards her.

Pidge had a look of fear and shock on her face, scared of the incoming boy. Lance quickly latched his arms around her, squishing her slightly under his body. Lance made sure his happiness was delivered to her through the hug. Pidge quickly realized Lance was hugging her and she lightly hugged back, unsure. Lance pulled away within minutes, not to make the hug too long. He beamed down at her, clearly happy with his blue jumper. 

"Hey! Leave some hugs for me too!" Hunk grinned, walking over to Pidge. 

Hunk was wearing an orange jumper with the classic sweater style. In white capital letters, it said "I just like to smile. Smilings my favourite." To Lance, that fit him perfectly. 

Hunk practically squished Pidge in the same way as Lance did. He was clearly elated with the jumper, just like Lance. Next came Shiro, then surprisingly Keith. Everyone wanted to thank Pidge in their own personal ways for something as simple as a jumper. Something so small can make everyone so happy. 

**(All pictures were taken from Pintrest, edit by me)**

~ ~ ~ ~

Another meeting had been called by the Princess. The Paladins all showed up to the control room in their comfortable Christmas sweaters and Santa hats Lance gave out earlier. They all stared curiously towards the white-haired Princess, wanting to know what they were all doing there. She cleared her throat quietly before turning to address the awaiting Paladins.

"Paladins, I know today is Deziuim, or as you Humans call it, Christmas." She paused.

Everyone nodded, urging her to continue on. 

"A little birdy told me that it's usually cold on Earth," She winked towards Pidge, giving away the "little birdy" part, "So~ Coran found a planet that replicates the same sort of snow as you have on Earth! And you don't have to use your Paladin armour!" She spoke excitedly.

There were gasps of excitement around the room as a grin broke out on everyone's faces, besides Pidge, who wore a smug look. Everyone thanked her in a different way.

"Thanks a lot, Princess!"

"It means a lot, Princess," 

"YES SNOW! Thanks, Babe! now I can take Keith down!" 

"Ha, yeah right. You couldn't take me down even if you tried."

"Oh yeah, Mullet? Wanna bet?"

"I don't need to bet, I know I will win."

~ ~ ~

"Hey!" Lance shouted as he felt a cold splash against his cheek.

He looked over at Keith who was laughing loudly. Despite the cold, Lance's cheeks still managed to flush bright red at the beautiful sound. He should be mad at him, but Lance could only bite back a smile. How could anyone ever dislike someone like Keith?

"I'll get you back for that!" Lance yelled teasingly at Keith.

A look of determination and adrenaline overtook Keith's face, ready to put up a fight. A small hint of excitement was present behind his eyes. Lance's heart fluttered at the thought of him making Keith happy. Lance couldn't hide his grin much longer. The atmosphere was too exciting for him to force himself not to be happy, even if it was Keith he was with. If anything, Keith made Lance fire up, he pushes the Latino to do his best, to show off. Right now, that was what Lance was going to do.

The battle was on.

Snow was flying everywhere. The snowballs that the pair were throwing weren't even fully formed, making more snow fly everywhere than at their actual target. They were having fun. Neither really cared about winning or losing, they were just having fun. Lance would occasionally cheer when he would hit Keith square in the face, and Keith would laugh whenever Lance would fail. Snow drenched their clothes and covered their darkened hair.

"Take that Keith!" Lance threw a snowball too dramatically, causing him to fall flat on his face.

"Oh my god, Lance!" Keith laughed, "You're such an idiot!"

Lance lifted his face away from the freezing snow, giggling like the idiot Keith said he was. Lance saw that Keith has actually rushed over to him to see if he was alright. The Blue Paladin's heart warmed at that thought. The dark haired boy in the red jumper had an effortless half grin on his face. Lance felt his cheeks warm and his heart pound in his ears. He was totally head over heels for this adorable boy. Even with snow in his black hair and his stupid grin, he was totally perfect in Lance's ocean eyes. Nothing could ever change that.

There was a tug to move closer to Keith, to give in to his undeniable feelings and selfishly take what he wanted. However, there was also a strong pull to stay back, a painful tug at his heart to stay back and not ruin the moment by his unrequited love. Lance couldn't help the small flicker of his blue eyes to Keith's pinkish lips. A jump of Lance's heart suddenly reminded him of his actions, and how obvious everything was to Keith. He was probably freaked out by Lance's secret messages through his eyes.

The Blue Paladin quickly sat up properly to put some distance between him and Keith. He felt his face flare up like a firetruck. Lance scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, trying to search for a pitiful excuse for nothing. He swears he imagined it, but Keith's face seemed to scream disappointment as if he  _wanted_ Lance to continue.

"I really am an idiot," Lance laughed awkwardly "Don't you think?"

Keith looked towards the snow, no longer making eye contact. He mumbled something, Lance assumed the boy was agreeing with his degrading comment.

"C'mon, we should probably head back to the castle and get warm," Lance breathed.

"Yeah, sure." Keith stood up and brushed off some of the snow, Lance following suit. 

The two trudged through the thick snow, struggling to move at a fast pace. Lance was glad they hadn't moved very far from the castle, or else their walk would be much harder. He noticed that everyone had left by now and it was only him and Keith outside in the snow. The snow fight had left Lance freezing, leaving him to shiver and tug his soaked jumper closer to him. Lance noticed Keith didn't seem to be too bothered by the snow. The ex-paladin had a distant look on his face like he was too busy thinking about something. 

"Space to Keith, are you there?" Lance called out to him.

Keith didn't reply to Lance's light-hearted call. This made Lance roll his eyes. 

Without warning, Keith was struck with an icy ball of snow. The pale boy made a small noise of surprise, obviously too deep in his thoughts to notice Lance making the snowball.

"Hey! What was that for?" Keith frowned, whipping off the snow from his face. 

Lance laughed. "You seemed so deep in your thoughts, AND you didn't reply to me." 

"So that gives you the right to throw a snowball at my face?" Keith raised an eyebrow while crossing his arms.

"Um..." Lance paused, "Yes?"

Keith rolled his eyes in reply. 

The couple continued walking towards the castle while sneakily throwing snowballs at each other for entertainment. By the time they reached the ship, they were both freezing and were in desperate need of some hot showers and warm cocoa once more. They barely made it to the door as both were slipping slightly on the metal surface of the castle. Both of the boys lightly gripped onto each other, desperate to not fall flat on their faces. 

"Keith! I don't want to fall on my beautiful face! I work hard on this face!" Lance gripped tightly onto Keith, almost slipping over. 

Keith gripped his jacket tightly while rolling his eyes. "Is that all you care about?" 

Lance pretended to think. "Well...I guess you have an alright face too."

Keith scoffed, not expecting anything else from the self-centred brunette. 

Lance always seemed stunning to Keith, with just a simple look, he would melt faster than butter in a microwave. Keith loved everything about Lance. Even now with melting white snow decorating his mossy brown hair, he always seemed to look perfect. A large grin was present on his features, unafraid and daring. His eyes shined brighter than the ocean on a summer's day. The colour was breathtaking alone. The striking dark blue stood out against his tanned skin, mixing with flicks of light blue and surprisingly, a light green. If the raven-haired boy stood close enough, he could see small flicks of freckles on his pointy nose, showing off his time in the sun. This boy looked like a masterpiece in his eyes.

The two pushed open the large door to the castle. The two were expecting a warm gush of air or something to warm them up, it was just as cold as it was outside without the wind. Lance was disappointed, to say the least. He shivered violently, just wanting nothing more but to be warm. 

"It's freezing in here!" Lance exclaimed. 

Keith nodded in reply, his teeth chattering too sporadically to reply. Lance noticed how icy the shorter boy was. Before he realized what he was doing, he was running his hands along Keith's arms in a terrible attempt to warm the poor boy up. Keith didn't pay attention to what Lance was doing, he was too busy looking upwards at the ceiling funny. Lance stopped.

"Keith? What are you looking at?" Lance questioned. 

"What's that cool plant doing up there?" Keith raised a brow, confused. 

Lance stared up, puzzled at what the hell Keith was going on about. Once Lance got one glance at the plant that was decorated with a bright red ribbon, his face exploded into a million shades of red. He sputtered out nonsense for a couple of seconds, not sure how to explain to Keith.

"That's mistletoe! Christmas 101 dude," Lance coughed. 

"Oh, that's what that is?" Keith looked back down at Lance longingly. 

Lance nodded shyly, not sure if he should go for it or not. There was a million and one things that could go wrong. The brunette could just kiss him on the cheek or something so it doesn't make it awkward, but it might still show that Lance has feelings for Keith and he didn't want that. But what if Keith did like him back? Then he would have wasted his opportunity and Keith might think he doesn't like him back! This was too conflicting for Lance's brain.

He was so busy being conflicted over an internal battle, that he didn't notice how close Keith was now. 

Bright shades of violet clouded his vision, luring him closer to the pale boy. The colour left Lance feeling breathless. They reminded him of the emptiness of space, the one thing that brought the two together. If it wasn't for the beauty of the stars and his curiosity, he would never have been standing here, helplessly in love with Keith. If it wasn't for one small choice of his life, he would have never gotten close to Keith, he would have only seen him as a rival and nothing more.  

The Latino could feel Keith's light breath on his pink lips, now realizing how close they actually were. Lance's heart was pounding too loud in his chest, desperate, excited and scared all at the same time. There was a brief moment where Keith flickered down to Lance's lips as the brunette did previously in the snow. Excited shivers ran down Lance's spine, so ready to pounce on top of Keith, internal conflict be damned. 

Lance closed the lingering gap between them, suddenly becoming the impulsive one for a flicker of a moment. The kiss wasn't harsh or forceful, but more soft and unsure. Lance started to feel doubts creep in the back of his mind, wondering if this was the right choice. That question was answered once Keith wrapped his short arms around Lance's neck, pushing back into the kiss. Lance couldn't stop his smile from spreading across his face. 

After pulling apart, Lance had a large stupid grin on his face. He was far too elated at his new discovery. Keith slowly fluttered his violet eyes open shyly. Lance realized he didn't actually close his eyes throughout the whole kiss. Bubbly, Lance giggled at Keith and scratched his head. He was over the moon, his heart was soaring. This was the best Lance had felt in forever. He felt like he could do anything at this point. Lance could see Keith felt the same.

Keith felt a shy smile decorate his face, feeling way too ecstatic to be normal. A large pink blush dusted his cheeks and he couldn't stop staring at Lance with so much adoration. He was so in love with this man, and he just kissed him. Keith knew he was acting like a twelve-year-old but he couldn't help it. 

Before Lance could realize, Keith placed another kiss on his pink nose, and then his bright red cheek.  

It was at this moment, Lance knew what Christmas was really about. It wasn't about getting gifts and eating a lot of food. It was about celebrating it with the people he loved, and even though some of those people he loved were millions of light-years away, he had people here who loved him and care for him. Lance still had a purpose here. He knows this now. 

From this year on, Lance promises to make every Christmas the best one yet.


End file.
